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All Hails To Sarfaraz For Not Ditching Shalwar kameez With A Suit At Buckingham Palace


Its World Cup season and cricket has the attention of the whole nation. Not just cricket, the cricketers as well. On May 29, Wednesday, all ten Captains were invited to Buckingham Palace just before the Grand Opening Ceremony of ICC World Cup 2019, to meet Queen of England, Elizabeth and Dutch of Sussex, Prince Harry for a Garden Party. The captains of every team were dressed in formal attire, almost alike suits, but our one true patriot man Sarfaraz represented his country in its national dress i.e. a white crisp shalwar kameez. He wore the traditional outfit with the team blazer. His decision to be loyal to his national dress code and not ditching it with a suit took the hearts away of Pakistanis. They said they couldn’t be more proud of their captain. Undoubtedly, he wasn’t looking any less dapper.


Bringing the trophy home of course depends on the play but living the spirit of it does matter a lot. You have a huge platform to represent your country and Sarfaraz’s choice of dress code was one of the best ways of doing it. However it wasn’t all roses either, while we should’ve been celebrating the pure honest intention of this Pakistani man to hold his homeland heritage and culture in his gathering with the Royal Family, some of us did get triggered unnecessarily with the gesture. Especially, when he took this bold decision in between all the other captains who were uniformly dressed in the western attire.


Their argument was that by wearing shalwar kameez Sarfaraz broke the official protocol failing to maintain decorum. So there was a lot of quick shade thrown on the captain by some people. Tarek Fateh, the columnist, topped this list in stirring a controversy against Sarfaraz’s humble act.


He tweeted, "Captains of #Cricket playing nations competing 4 the #CricketWorldCup had a photoshoot with the Queen. Guess who came dressed in his pyjamas? None other than the #Pakistan captain (back row, left)."



He later added in another tweet the captains of every other team including, Australia, Afghanistan, Bangladesh, India, England, South Africa, West Indies, Zimbabwe, & New Zealand is formally dressed in jacket & tie, but “no, not the Pakistani. No sir, not him,” were his words saying that he was surprised Sarfaraz didn’t come dressed in his Lungi-Banyan-Topi “costume”.


Despite the negativity a lot of us agreed that Sarfaraz was looking debonair in that dress code, charming the fans with his simplicity, hailing his sartorial choice for the event. He out-rocked everyone else with his elegant shalwar kameez look.



The columist’s tweets went viral online really quick many found his remarks offensive and slammed him for it. Many fans lauded and defended his choice of attire, questioning that why is it always a necessity to abide by the western norms. Many other lashed out on Fateh accusing him for still living by his “colonial hangover” saying that the times shaming someone for their sartorial choices has gone by and it is not cool anymore.



What does it matter if someone finds it more suitable to wear his national dress to a Royal gathering? People on twitter were equally confused and disappointed with Fateh’s remarks. Not only did Pakistanis come to the rescue of the skipper on Fateh’s tweet but there were also a number of Indian fans who defended him on his choice.



They expressed that there was absolutely nothing wrong in wearing Shalwar Kameez to an event if someone finds himself comfortable in it. It makes zero difference.

We on this side of the border also think the captain deserves massive respect for sticking to Shalwar kameez; the hearts are won already by this simple gesture, now we’re looking up to bringing the trophy home!


The hashtag #SarfarazAhmed was on trending with a lot of his fans showering him with love and support ever since the meeting.


His sweet gesture sent a strong message about how proud he is of his country and its culture that he doesn’t mind being the odd one out while standing by the Queen and greeting her. Such confidence and patriotism deserves some admiration and appreciations.


Sarfaraz’s choice of attire was also lauded by celebrities as big as Mahira Khan. The Pakistani actress extended goodwill and best wishes to the Captain and to the Pakistani team for ICC World Cup 2019. Mahira applauded captain Sarfaraz Ahmed on twitter for donning our traditional attire, Shalwar Kameez.


“Looking good Sarfraz Ahmed. lots of luck to our team,” said Mahira’s tweet.


The amount of hate Sarfaraz got for the gesture was not even close to the support he got for it. There were a lot of fans backing his decision and hailing for it, saying that he won their heart. The reason being that the International Cricket World Cup is something way more bigger than what outfits the players are wearing to what event. It should be a developed fact by now that these guys are not supermodels or actresses and this is not red carpet. For more cricket updates visit this website.


What matters here is their high spirits and capabilities. It’s not like appearances should be neglected all-n-all but that's not where the criticism should lie. If the team doesn’t play well and they’re trolled for that, it’s their right because that’s what they are there for, performing in the match and giving their 101% is their responsibility, but dress code? Na-uh. Plus what he did was an appreciable gesture in the first place.


Sarfaraz on the other hand brushes aside the criticism he got for wearing salwar kameez to the Royal Palace. He said that it was a matter of pride for him to be wearing his traditional outfit i.e. shalwar kameez while he was in the same room as the Royals meeting Queen Elizabeth before the went off to the opening ceremony of ICC World Cup 2019 held on Wednesday.


“The salwar kameez is our national dress and I got instructions from the board to do all these things so I tried to promote our national dress,” he posted on twitter. Also adding that he felt very proud that he stood-out among the other captains for wearing his traditional attire while others were wearing suits.

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